


Stitches

by Likesummerrainn



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Injury, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-11-02 10:14:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20710934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Likesummerrainn/pseuds/Likesummerrainn
Summary: Cleaning up one wound always opens another.





	Stitches

**Author's Note:**

> Canon is for casual viewers and people who don't care about James Ransone.  
I am neither of those folks.

“Stop moving.”

“You’ve got hands like fucking cement blocks, man,” he whined.

“You really know how to make a guy feel special,” he mumbled under his breath.

“Is it bad?” he asked in a small voice.

Richie paused,

“Uh...it’s…”

“It’s bad, I knew it, it’s really really bad,” Eddie groaned. He closed his eyes and dropped his head, but Richie pushed it right back up.

“Stop doing that you’re making this harder.”

“What’s taking you so long, anyways?” Eddie asked.

“It’s just...hard...to look at,” Richie said, his hands shaking.

Carefully, he stripped away the old bandages on Eddie’s cheek, the blood-soaked gauze heavy in his hands.

“Who cleaned this, anyways?” Richie asked.

“Ben,” Eddie mumbled. Richie snorted,

“Of course,” he replied.

Eddie’s leg bounced under the table, and he avoided Richie’s eyes. Richie tried his hardest to keep his eyes on the stitches on his cheek, swabbing it as gently as he could with an alcohol-soaked swab. Eddie’s body was stiff, biting his lip at the stinging.

“Sorry,” Richie said quietly. Eddie waved him off. “So our high school bully stabs you in the face and you live through it,” he said after a minute, trying to fill the silence.

“And?” Eddie snapped.

“Nothing,” Richie said, smiling. “I just can’t stop thinking about what your face must’ve looked like when it happened.”

“It had a knife in it, you dick,” Eddie said. Richie couldn’t help but laugh, now. “How is that funny?” Eddie yelled indignantly. They’d moved apart now, Richie’s head dropped in laughter, and Eddie standing up. Still laughing, Richie waved him back over,

“Sit down, asshole, you’ve got a hole in your face and it’s freaking me out,” he said, smiling.

“Evil alien clown nearly kills us in an underground cave and shows us our deepest fears, but yeah, this freaks you out,” Eddie said, pointing at his face.

“Stop doing that!” Richie yelled.

“Oh? Stop doing what? This?”

Eddie stuck his cheek right in front of Richie, pointing at the bright red scar, nearly sending Richie back out of his chair.

“Jesus Christ, man!” he yelled, trying to balance himself. Eddie laughed as hard as he could manage, the scar leaving one side of his face stuck in a permanent smirk.

“You better get used to it,” Eddie said, taking his seat again, this time moving his chair closer to Richie’s.

“I mean, maybe we can put you on the front lawn on Halloween and tell the neighborhood kids you’re a scarecrow or something,” Richie mused, taking his gloves off. Instinctively, Eddie handed him the hand sanitizer he’d kept with him.  
  
“Fuck you,” Eddie mumbled.

“Hey, c’mere, I’m not done yet.” Eddie complied as Richie ripped open the new bandages.

They were quiet now, and Richie made sure to be as gentle as possible, setting the new gauze over his cheek, but his hands still shook.

“You’re doing good, man,” Eddie said softly, eyes cast downward, his leg still bouncing, arms crossed over his chest.

“Thanks,” Richie mumbled.

Eddie’s phone buzzed, the pair staring at it as it fell off the table.

They both knew what it was about, but neither had mentioned it since they’d gotten out of Neibolt.

Richie pulled his hands away, turning to clean up whatever mess he’d made in the process.

“I’m sure you’re already a case on dateline or something,” Richie said.

“Huh?” Eddie asked, staring at his phone on the ground.

“Your wife’s probably put missing person’s flyers all over the state by now,” he said.

“I can’t do it,” Eddie said quietly.

“Yeah I don’t blame you, man,” Richie said, faking a laugh for good measure.

“I can’t go back to her,” he continued. “She…”

“Listen, man, we all gotta get home, right? Tell your mom--I mean Myra--I said hi,” Richie said, joking.

Eddie was quiet, staring at him, his lips pursed and brows furrowed in frustration. Richie couldn’t look at him.

“Look I’m just joking, okay? We’re gonna get out of here soon and you can go home and tell her you’re okay and we’ll go back to the way things were before. You’ll have your wife and I’ll go back to my dazzling career.”

Eddie looked at him, a pain in his eyes Richie hadn’t seen before.

“You’re not gonna say it, are you?” Eddie asked, an edge to his voice.

“Say what?”

“Everything that just happened, everything we just went through, and you’re still gonna act like a dick,” Eddie said, his voice growing louder..

“About what?” Richie asked, confused and upset.

“Just admit it! Just say it already!” Eddie yelled.

“Say what?” Richie yelled back.

“Something! Anything! Just stop making jokes for one goddamn second and say it!”

“Wh-what do you want me to say? That watching you almost die was the worst moment of my fucking life? That I’ve been blaming myself the entire time? Or-or-or that I was so terrified to lose you because we just got each other back? Is that what you want to hear?”

Eddie stopped, staring at him. Richie was shaking, adrenaline rushing through him.

“You blamed yourself?” Eddie asked.

“Yes! It was my fault!” he yelled.

Something went off in Eddie’s mind, Richie could see it in his eyes, but he was so annoyed with him in that moment that he just turned around. He knew if he looked at Eddie any longer he…

Well...

He wasn’t sure what he would do. And that scared him even more.

“Because you thought I had died?” Eddie continued.

“Yes!” Richie yelled.

“Because you love me?”

“Obviously, dumbass!”

Richie whipped around, mouth hanging open, trying to cover,

“I--I mean, you know, I was just…” he sputtered.

Eddie sighed in relief,

“About fucking time,” he said.

“What?” Richie asked.

Eddie had calculated the risks in his mind while Richie tried to cover up. He thought of every possible outcome of what he was about to do, everything that could go wrong, everything he could lose, that Richie could lose.

But for the first time, the small voice in the back of his mind that he always pushed down, spoke loud and clear:

Fuck it.

Eddie kissed him. But his own adrenaline rush kicked in just as he moved across the room. He grabbed Richie a little harder than he intended to, pressed his lips against his harder than he should have, and held his face tighter than could’ve been comfortable.

But Richie said nothing. His shoulders dropped, his own hands holding onto Eddie’s face, careful to avoid the wound he’d just cleaned, and for a moment, for the first time in their known history, both Eddie and Richie were completely silent.

“You talk too much,” Eddie mumbled, pulling away, resting his forehead against Richie’s.

Richie was speechless. He only looked at Eddie, his expression soft, blinking away tears that welled in his eyes. Richie opened his mouth and closed it again and again, trying to think of something to say, but nothing came.

“Okay I take it back, say something, will you? You being quiet is making me uncomfortable now,” Eddie said nervously.

“I love you,” he managed.

Eddie had never felt so relieved. He dropped his head, feeling his cheeks burn, grinning like an idiot.

“I love you, too, Rich,” he said.

Richie pulled him back, burying his face in the crook of his neck. He was slouched down, his back aching, but he ignored it. Eddie could feel him shake in his arms, small sobs that Richie tried to cover, but Eddie only held him tighter.

For the first time since they’d returned, Richie let himself breathe.

For the first time since they’d returned, Eddie relaxed, and the pair were quiet.

“Rich?” Eddie said softly.

“Hmm,” he mumbled, face still hiding in his jacket.

“I’m still bleeding,” he said.

Richie laughed harder than he had in a while, head thrown back, bellowing laughter that made Eddie smile.

“Jesus that’s a lot of blood,” Richie said, tilting Eddie’s face away, examining the wound again. “We should probably go to a hospital or something.”

“Yeah I don’t know what the fuck you did but it wasn’t good,” Eddie said.

Richie scoffed, wrapping one arm around Eddie as they walked away, Eddie giving him a rundown of every disease he could possibly contract in the time it takes them to get to a hospital.

They were finally home.

**Author's Note:**

> Why didn't anyone tell me I'd leave a stupid horror movie about a clown crying over this fictional almost-couple? How dare you all? This is what you all drove me to.  
Please let me know what you think, it's been a while since I've written something but it feels good to get back out there!


End file.
